Garment hanger



June 1933. W5C. STEVENS 'GARMENT HANGER Filed Sept. 20, 1929 I INXEVSZIQORQ ATTORNEY Patented June 27, 1933 WILLIAM C. STEVENS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

GARMENT HANGER Application filed September 20, 1929. Serial No. 393,894.

The present invention relates to garment hangers and more particularly to a garment hanger for display purposes.

Garments such as dresses, are ordinarily stored in sales and show rooms by means of the usual coat hanger. In displaying the garment, the salesman does not remove the garment from the hanger but supports the garment in front of the prospective customer by means of the hanger. WVhen thus supported, the garment hangs flat on the hanger and appears much broader and bigger than it really is when shown on a model. This fails to give the true appearance and beauty of the garment because women particularly want garments to look small. In some cases, salesmen go to the trouble of tying the garments about the waistline in order to reduce their size and to attain aslenderizing effect which will please the customer. In my application S. N. 324,507, I have shown a hanger adapted to eliminate or minimize these difficulties. The present invention aims to simplify and to improve the structure for achieving the same objects and to decrease its cost. By means of the present invention, a hanger is provided which may be readily operated to cause the dress or other garment to conform substantially to the silhouette obtained when the garment is actually Worn. This may be done without substantial effort on the part of the salesman at the time he is displaying the garment and Without particular notice by the customer. expensive in construction and may be easily manufactured with a minimum number of parts.

An object of the invention is to provide a hanger, having the above characteristics, which is lIIGXPGDSlVG 1n constructlon and easy to manufacture.

The device is in-,

tially to the natural silhouette assumed when bemg worn. 7 Another object of the invention is to pivotally mount an integral hook and loop member to the horizontal member of a garment hanger without materially imparing the strength of the member.

Another object of the invention is to provide a hanger having a depending loop adapted to be tipped to spread the garment 641 by pressure .upon the supporting hook.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.

'A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes of illustration to and description and is shown in the accompanying drawing, forming a part of the specification, wherein Fig. lfis a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Fig.2 is a rear elevational view of the hanger;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view along the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4c is a vertical sectional view through so the center of the hanger;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view corresponding to Fig. 4, with the hook and loop tipped to cause a garment to conform to substantially its natural shape; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view corresponding to Figs. 4 and 5, illustrating another way of constructing and mounting the hook and loop member.

Referring again to the drawing, there is 190 shown a hanger having a horizontal supporting member 1, in the usual form, which, for convenience, may be constructed of wood or other material. This member is adapted to fit in the shoulders of garments to support them without causing wrinkles.

At substantially the center of the support ing member 1 there is provided a recess 2 which terminates in an aperture 4 extending through the supporting member. While varipurpose of the recess is to provide ahousing for a member 5 which has its upper end in the form of a hook for supporting'the hanger from a suitable rod or support and which has,

its lower end in the form of a loop 7 the loop being adapted to separate the front and back of the garment to causeit to conform to substantially its natural shape instead of lying flat when being displayed. The width of the groove 2 is approximately equal to the diameter of the wire housed therein. This permits free movement'of the wire and, at

the same time, serves as a guide to hold the members in proper position. As here shown, the loop 7 is integralwith thehook 6 and is formed by bending a piece of wire around to give the desired. shape; the end of the wire is bent upon itself about the downwardextending part to hold itself in position. h

e shape of the lower part of the loop 7 is preferably arcuate to give the proper curvature to the back of the garment as if placed upon a model.

A pin or staple 8 is shown extending transversely of the recess in' the member 1. For convenience, the member'8 may be a staple which is driven into the side of the supporting member 1 with its central part extending across the aperture 4. By driving the staple Well into the wood, the transversely extending part thereof will be below the outer surface of the supporting member 1. ,In addition, the central part of the staplemaybe bent inwardly further, as shown at 9 in Fig.

3, so that the supporting part thereof will be substantially centrally disposed with respect to the'aperture 4. j I

The hooked member'5 is secured to the transversely extending member 8 by coiling the central part thereof about the member 8. A single convolution is sufficient to achieve the desired results.- The coiling operation 8 is in position, The groove 2 receives the upper end of the pivotedmember and the lower end extends through the aperture 4 and depends downwardly on the opposite side of the supporting member 1. In this manner, the person displaying the garment may press on the hooked member 5 to tip it about the supporting member 1, causing the hooked member to take the position substantially as shown in Fig. 5. This will cause the garment to assume a definite shape, that is, the front and back of "the garment will be spread apart and the lower part thereof will conform substantially to the shape or silhouette assumed when being worn. This will cause the garment to appear to have its natural beauty and will eliminate the wide appearance and the exaggerated size caused by the garment being displayed while fiat on i the hanger.

In Fig. 6, a slightly different construction is shown wherein the central part of the hooked member 5 is flattened and provided with an aperture 10. A staple or pin 11 extends transversely of the groove to pivotally mount the hooked member. In this case, a

groove 12 is shown below the aperture 4- to house the depending part of the hooked sup porting member. This construction is particularly applicable where the supporting member 1 is made of relatively heavy material and the decrease in strength occasioned by the grooves 2 and 12 is not material.

In the usual operation of the hanger,the salesman will remove the garment from a rack and will exhibit it to the customer while holdingit at the center of the supporting member 1 with the thumb free to engage the hooked member 6. By exerting pressure on the hooked member, both the hook and loop provides a garment hanger particularly applicable in the display of dresses to prospective customers. The loop may be readily tipped without notice on the part of the customer and without substantial effort on the part of the salesman to give the garment its natural shape. Further, the hanger, when on the rack, does not take up any more space than the ordinary hanger. The hanger is inexpensive and rigid in construction and fully capable of withstanding the rough usmay be done either before or after the staple [age to Whlch 1t maybe subjected It will be understood that certain ofthe advantages outlined above may be secured without pivotally mounting the hooked and loop members, since these members might be rigidly mounted to the supporting member and the entire hanger tipped to give the desired eflect. While such a construction does not have all of the advantages noted-above, it might be used to achieve certain of the advantages. As various other changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts herein without departing from the spirit of thevinvention, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not a limit-,

ing sense.

The term loop herein is used in its broad sense to include any configuration which will spread the garment in response to the tipping movement.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A garment hanger comprising a member adapted to extend into the shoulders of a garment to support the garment, a second member pivotally secured to said first member substantially at the middle portion of said second member, the upper end of said second member being in the form of a hookto support said first member and the lower end of the second member extending below said first member and being bent to provide substantially a loop hanging substantially vertically beneath said first member, said hook and loop being formed from a continuous wire rod.

' ber with the lower end extending below said first member and being bent substantially into the form of a loop, and means for pivotally securing said second supporting member in said recess to permit said second member to oscillate in a plane extending transversely of the plane of said garment supporting member.

3. A garment hanger comprising a supporting member adapted to support a garment, said supporting member having a vertical groove on one side thereof terminating in an aperture extending through said member, said supporting member having also a vertical groove on the other side thereof communicating with said aperture, means ex! tending transversely of said groove and longitudinally of said supporting member, a hook member formed from a continuous wire pivotally secured to said transversely extending means and having its lower end extending through said aperture and bent to form a loop extending below said'garment supporting member substantially in the plane thereof, said loop being adapted to be tipped by pressure upon said hook to cause a garment to conform substantially to its natural shape.

4. A garment display hanger comprising a supporting member adapted to fit in the shoulders of a garment, a continuous wire having a hoop at its upper end and a loop at its lower end, said wire being deformed intermediate the hook and loop to provide an aperture, means secured to said supporting member and extending through said aperture to pivotally mount said wire for tilting in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of the supporting member and the garmentdisplayed thereon.

5. A garment hanger for displaying dresses and the like comprising the combinations ofa member adapted to extend into the shoulder portions of a garment to support the garment, a second member pivotally secured to said first member with a portion above and a portion below said first member, the portion of the second member above said first member being in the-form of a hook to support said first member, and the portion below said first member being bent substantially into the form of a loop suspended below said first member normally in the plane of said first member, whereby the person gripping the first member to support the hanger and display the garment thereon may press the hook to move the loop about its pivot and to spread the garment thereon to make it conform substantially to its natural shape.

6. A garment hanger for displaying dresses and the like, comprising a horizontal member for extending into the shoulders of a garment to support the garment, said member having a groove on one side thereof terminating in an aperture extending through said horizontal member substantially perpendicularly to said groove, a tiltable supporting member having a hook at its upper end and a bent portion at its lower end to engage a garment suspended below said horizontal member substantially in the plane thereof, and means for engaging said tiltable supporting'member intermediate its upper and lower portions for pivotally mounting it in said aperture, whereby one holding the horizontal member may tilt the vertical supporting member to cause a garment. to conform substantially to its natural shape.

7. As an article of manufacture, a garment hanger comprising a member adapted to extend into the shoulder portions of and to support a garment, a continuous wire member adapted to support said first member, said wire having a small loop intermediate the ends thereof, and means secured to said first member and extending through said loop to pivotally support said wire member, whereby the wire member may be tilted in a plane extending transversely of and substantially perpendicular to said first supporting member.

8. As an article of manufacture, a garment hanger comprising a member adapted to extend into the shoulders of a garment, a continuous wire member having a vhooked upper end and a bent lower end, said wire member having a small loop forming an aperture intermediate the hooked upper end and the bent lower end, and means attached to said garment supporting member and extending through said aperture to pivotally mount said wire on said garment supporting member with the wire member normally substantially in the plane of the garment supporting member, whereby a person holding the hanger in one hand may press upon the hooked end of the wire with said hand to cause the lower end of the wire to s read the garment thereon and to make it con orm substantially to its natural shape. WILLIAM C. STEVENS. 

